Politics-free work environment is a pipe dream

We say: “No, I’m not interested at all in pursuing politics as a career.” Yet, years down the line we find ourselves forced to deal with office politics or at least accept it grudgingly as a constant in our careers.

I, for one, have seen office politics played out from different standpoints — whether it was as an employee, or managing my small consultancy business or even when I am engaging a client. In my line of work, I get the opportunity to speak to many employees who come to me to help them find a “better job”. Most of the times the reason they cite for this is along the lines of, “I’m tired of the office politics in my job”, or “I can’t handle the culture here anymore”, or “I hate my boss and my colleagues”.

If you think your next job will be a politics-free work environment in some form, I hate to burst your bubble but that just doesn’t exist. What can be done, though, is to understand why office politics happens, what shape it takes and then educate employees on how to deal with it so that it does not does not turn in to harassment, bullying, or a demoraliser.

One way I teach people to deal effectively with office politics is to imagine the workplace as a big and long theatre play; everyone has a role to play and so do you. What plays out in the theatre does not have to be taken personally or, worse, depress you to the point of being unhappy.

— The reader is an Emirati people and workforce development specialist based in Dubai